1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wrench assembly which may be maintained in secured engagement with a nut or bolt through conventional socket structures and manipulated to cause continuous rotation of the engaged nut or bolt through continuous turning of activating components drivingly interconnected to the socket holder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years efforts have been made to design a wrench which can operate in a conventional manner such as tightening or loosening nuts, bolts, screws, etc., without interrupting the progress of the manual work. Interruption generally occurs when the head of the wrench must be continuously removed and secured to the nut or bolt so as to reorient the wrench head and apply leverage to the nut or bolt in the well accepted manner. To some extent, conventional ratchet type wrenches overcome the problem of continuously removing the head of the wrench from the bolt. However, the ratchet wrench still has certain disadvantages associated with the reciprocal movement of the body of the wrench relative to the nut or bolt being rotated in order to apply leverage thereto.
Accordingly, there is a need in this art for a wrench structure which accomplishes all of the intended functions relating to the tightening or loosening of nut or bolt type connectors while at the same time being able to maintain a continuous grip of the connector and preferably maintain the same positioning of the wrench body once the connector has been grasped. In addition, the subject wrench should be of multi-purpose design suitable for any wrench application such as use in machine shops, automobile repair shops, aviation mechanics, and general maintenance.
Another problem associated with the use of conventional wrenches, including ratchet type wrenches, is directed towards the incidents where a loosened nut will not unthread as the conventional wrench is successively released and reapplied. This occurs because the whole bolt and nut assembly simply turns back and forth in its secured aperture. With the use of the preferred wrench of this invention, such an occurrence is less lkely to happen since torque is applied without interruption to the connector once it has been loosened from its original secured position.
In many cases the continuous travel hand wrench of the subject invention can replace compressed air and other power driven wrenches with no loss of performance. Finally, the design in construction of the preferred wrench should be simple and structurally sound so as to keep maintenance at a minimum and eliminate or reduce problems associated with tool wear or breakdown.